A large number of men and women do not think about acquiring a law firm until they are in desperate need. The lawful dilemma may possibly be personal, like family law, for a breakup or if you are hunting for a bankrupcy or trust law firm. It may be a felony situation you need to be defended on. Businesses require legal representatives as well, no matter if they are being sued for discrimination, sexual harassment, or perhaps unjust business methods. Tax law firms are also effective whenever engaging with government difficulties. Just like doctors, lawyers have areas. A huge, full service law firm has many attorneys with different areas of competence, so depending on your personal legal issue, you can instantly retain the finest legal representative to fulfill your current need without having to begin your search each time you need legal support.It is most effective to find a legal representative you can have confidence in. You want one with a decent record, who isstraightforward, efficient, and wins cases. You need to have trust that they will stand for you thoroughly and invoice you fairly for their products and services. Sometimes a recommendation from a pal or business associate can be practical, having said that you should hold your options open and review all the firms accessible, due to the fact when you need to have legal help, you need it quickly and you need the finest you can afford. Thank you for hunting for a law firm with us. Your time is valuable, and Action Pages, at Actionyp.com, is happy to supply specific search parameters to fulfill your needs. We consistently try to focus on the most popular phrases so you can right away find anything at all you are looking for.

Lawyer Reasearch Paper?
Hello Lawyer People... I Am An Eigth Grader Doing Research On The Process On Becoming A Lawyer, In Specific On College Peperation. So Lawyers Could You Explain The Process Like How Long You Work In A Firm What Classes You Take Etc Etc Etc Etc.

Lawyers are a dime a dozen. Heck their is a shortage of pharmacists and their median wage is $98,000K well above lawyers. Dentists 180,000K median and their is a shortage.

From US News, Poor careers for 2006
Attorney. If starting over, 75 percent of lawyers would choose to do something else. A similar percentage would advise their children not to become lawyers. The work is often contentious, and there's pressure to be unethical. And despite the drama portrayed on TV, real lawyers spend much of their time on painstakingly detailed research. In addition, those fat-salaried law jobs go to only the top few percent of an already high-powered lot.

Many people go to law school hoping to do so-called public-interest law. (In fact, much work not officially labeled as such does serve the public interest.) What they don't teach in law school is that the competition for those jobs is intense. I know one graduate of a Top Three law school, for instance, who also edited a law journal. She applied for a low-paying job at the National Abortion Rights Action League and, despite interviewing very well, didn't get the job.

From the Associated Press, MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A lawmaker who persuaded the Assembly to eliminate all state funding for the University of Wisconsin law school says his reasoning is simple: There's too many lawyers in Wisconsin.

From an ABA study about malpractice claims, More Sole Practicioners: There appears to be an increasing trend toward sole practicioners, due partly to a lack of jobs for new lawyers, but also due to increasing dissatisfaction among experienced lawyers with traditional firms; leading to some claims which could have been avoided with better mentoring.

New Lawyers: Most insurers have noticed that many young lawyers cannot find jobs with established firms, and so are starting their own practices without supervision or mentoring. This is likely to cause an increase in malpractice claims, although the claims may be relatively small in size due to the limited nature of a new lawyers

“In a survey conducted back in 1972 by the American Bar Association, seventy percent of Americans not only didn’t have a lawyer, they didn’t know how to find one. That’s right, thirty years ago the vast majority of people didn’t have a clue on how to find a lawyer. Now it’s almost impossible not to see lawyers everywhere you turn."

Growth of Legal Sector
Lags Broader Economy; Law Schools Proliferate
For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that's suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don't score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market.

The law degree that Scott Bullock gained in 2005 from Seton Hall University -- where he says he ranked in the top third of his class -- is a "waste," he says. Some former high-school friends are earning considerably more as plumbers and electricians than the $50,000-a-year Mr. Bullock is making as a personal-injury attorney in Manhattan. To boot, he is paying off $118,000 in law-school debt.

A slack in demand appears to be part of the problem. The legal sector, after more than tripling in inflation-adjusted growth between 1970 and 1987, has grown at an average annual inflation-adjusted rate of 1.2% since 1988, or less than half as fast as the broader economy, according to Commerce Department data.

On the supply end, more lawyers are entering the work force, thanks in part to the accreditation of new law schools and an influx of applicants after the dot-com implosion earlier this decade. In the 2005-06 academic year, 43,883 Juris Doctor degrees were awarded, up from 37,909 for 2001-02, according to the American Bar Association. Universities are starting up more law schools in part for prestige but also because they are money makers. Costs are low compared with other graduate schools and classrooms can be large. Since 1995, the number of ABA-accredited schools increased by 11%, to 196.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the inflation-adjusted average income of sole practitioners has been flat since the mid-1980s. A recent survey showed that out of nearly 600 lawyers at firms of 10 lawyers or fewer in Indiana, wages for the majority only kept pace with inflation or dropped in real terms over the past five years.

Many students "simply cannot earn enough income after graduation to support the debt they incur," wrote Richard Matasar, dean of New York Law School, in 2005, concluding that, "We may be reaching the end of a golden era for law schools."

Now, debate is intensifying among law-school academics over the integrity of law schools' marketing campaigns.
David Burcham, dean of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, considered second-tier, says the school makes no guarantees to students that they will obtain jobs.

OK, I have to interject right here. Did a dean of a law school basically say you could go through all the nonsense of getting into law school, law school, ethics exam, bar exam and you should not expect some sort of gainful employment after you are through? You might as well go to Las Vegas and put your tuition money on the rouelette table and let it ride, you may have better odds of making money than going to his school and getting a decent paying law job. This guy is a jerk.

Yet economic data suggest that prospects have grown bleaker for all but the top students, and now a number of law-school professors are calling for the distribution of more-accurate employment information. Incoming students are "mesmerized by what's happening in big firms, but clueless about what's going on in the bottom half of the profession," says Richard Sander, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who has studied the legal job market.

But in law schools' self-published employment data, "private practice" doesn't necessarily mean jobs that improve long-term career prospects, for that category can include lawyers working under contract without benefits, such as Israel Meth. A 2005 graduate of Brooklyn Law School, he earns about $30 an hour as a contract attorney reviewing legal documents for big firms. He says he uses 60% of his paycheck to pay off student loans -- $100,000 for law school on top of $100,000 for the bachelor's degree he received from Columbia University. "Most people graduating from law school," he says, "are not going to be earning big salaries."

Adding to the burden for young lawyers: Tuition growth at law schools has almost tripled the rate of inflation over the past 20 years, leading to higher debt for students and making starting salaries for most graduates less manageable, especially in expensive cities. Graduates in 2006 of public and private law schools had borrowed an average of $54,509 and $83,181, up 17% and 18.6%, respectively, from the amount borrowed by 2002 graduates, according to the American Bar Association.

But just as common -- and much less publicized -- are experiences such as that of Sue Clark, who this year received her degree from second-tier Chicago-Kent College of Law, one of six law schools in the Chicago area. Despite graduating near the top half of her class, she has been unable to find a job and is doing temp work "essentially as a paralegal," she says. "A lot of people, including myself, feel frustrated about the lack of jobs," she says.

The market is particularly tough in big cities that boast numerous law schools. Mike Altmann, 29, a graduate of New York University who went to Brooklyn Law School, says he accumulated $130,000 in student-loan debt and graduated in 2002 with no meaningful employment opportunities -- one offer was a $33,000 job with no benefits. So Mr. Altmann became a contract attorney, reviewing electronic documents for big firms for around $20 to $30 an hour, and hasn't been able to find higher-paying work since.

Some new lawyers try to hang their own shingle. Matthew Fox Curl graduated in 2004 from second-tier University of Houston in the bottom quarter of his class. After months of job hunting, he took his first job working for a sole practitioner focused on personal injury in the Houston area and made $32,000 in his first year. He quickly found that tort-reform legislation has been "brutal" to Texas plaintiffs' lawyers and last year left the firm to open up his own criminal-defense private practice.

He's making less money than at his last job and has thought about moving back to his parents' house. "I didn't think three years out I'd be uninsured, thinking it's a great day when a crackhead brings me $500."

Here is an example ad in Massachusetts for an experienced attorney, that mentions salary, it was posted this week. Most jobs don't state salary in the ad cause the pay is pretty low.

Office of the District Attorney, criminal attorney, for the Bristol County District seeks staff attorney for the Appellate Division. Excellent writing skills and a passion for appellate advocacy are a must. Salary $37,500. Preference given to candidates who live in or will relocate to Bristol County.

LOL, secretaries with no college can make more. What is even more sad is there will probably be like 50-100 lawyers that send in their resume for this ad.

Here is another attorney ad. They pay 35K-40K, yet they want someone with experie

Workers Comp Case... Should I Get A Lawyer?
I Hurt My Back At Work, I'M A Nurse. I Know I'M Not Supposed To Diagnose Myself But I'Ve Been Working In The Field Forever. I Was Diagnosed With A Lumber Strain And Sciatica By My Doc. I Feel That I Could Have Disk Issue Just From Experience. My Doctor Is Telling Me To Speak With A Lawyer. My Work Is Harassing Me Because They Have No One To Fill My Shift And They Obviously Don'T Want To Pay For Workers Comp. My Doc Is Requesting An Mri But The Insurance Company Said It'S Too Soon And They Are Denying It.
Do I Need To Get A Laywer? I'M Not The Sue Happy Type. I Got Hurt, The Only Thing I Want Is To Get My Back Better And Go Back To Work. I'M In Pain But I'M Also A Workaholic. I Can'T Stand Being Home.
Also, I Know From Experience That Mri'S Do Not Always Show Everything And The Results Get Translated By The Doc. If It Doesn'T Show Any Specific Damage, And I Got A Lawyer Would My Case Be Thrown Out? What Would My Next Steps Be? It'S Clear I Have Pain And My Doc Believes Me, But What Would I Do Then?
How Would I Be Able To Prove I Am Most Def. Injured If The Case Went To Court?

I used to work for a personal injury attorney who specialized in worker's comp claims and social security law.

Yes, get an attorney. Just because you have one, does not mean you are "sue happy." In fact, during my time working with that firm, none of the worker's comp clients we represented had cases ever go to trial. However, they do navigate the legal BS that surrounds the workers comp cases and just by their involvement, they can stop a lot of the insurance companies crap that prevents you from getting tests like an MRI in a timely manner.

Your medical records will prove that you are injured. And every single one will be requested by your attorney. He/she will compile the information and make your case to your workers comp commission ( or whatever appeals entity you have in your state) .

Many of our clients had issues of chronic pain and they just could not emotionally or mentally deal with the workers comp insurance representatives. Workers comp law can be extremely complicated and insurers are very good at knowing how to keep claimants from getting the treatment they are entitled to. They can also keep employers from unduly harrassing injured workers and firing them.

Definetely talk to an attorney, in any case. And do compare them. While I liked working that part of the law, I would not have recommended my boss to anyone. He wasn't very proactive and other attorneys were better, so do shop around. Also, his fees were paid by workers comp, so it didn't come out of our clients pockets.

Can You Ask For A Lawyer Before Giving A Breathalyzer?
If The Cops Want To Give You A Breathalyzer Can You Ask For A Lawyer To Be Present Before Giving One?

No you cannot ask for a lawyer. However, I was taught that you can demand to have a blood test in the station, which is more accurate, and during the time to take you there it's possible that the % would go down some.
If you refuse to do either you are in trouble, lawyer or no.

Recommendation On A Good Immigration Lawyer?
For A Florida Resident.

"Finding a Damn Good Immigration Attorney in the United States

Why Finding the Right Immigration Attorney is Important

Finding an immigration attorney in the United States can easily cause a headache. This article will help you choose the one that is right for you.

The Wall Street Journal dubbed it a "new port for the huddled masses," and indeed, the Internet has become a popular resource, at times even a life line, for those seeking to immigrate or obtain temporary visas. Or simply for people who need to understand the legalities of their situation or pending case. The dynamics are changing in some interesting ways.

Now that so much information is available online, some people with very simple cases have opted to go it on their own. While this is certainly more possible than it used to be, the amount of information available is copious, and the time commitment is great, as are the demands for attention to detail and a grasp of how the process works (and in some cases doesn't work).

In addition to the do-it-yourselfers, there are a growing number of people who do turn to the Web to seek a good immigration attorney. With the expansion of the Internet there are many more long distance client/attorney opportunities available now.

But where there are more choices, there is also more room for mistakes and incompetence. We almost always recommend an attorney, to ensure that no stone in your case will go unturned. However, the catch is that you must stay well informed in order to be sure you aren't breaking any rules, and you must also make sure that the immigration attorney is a damn good one. Put your paperwork in the hands of someone who knows not what they do, and he or she can make matters even worse than you would have on your own.

Remember that even the best immigration attorney can't be there every minute to make sure you aren't doing something in your daily life that could jeopardize your case. And if you don't know many of the quirky rules, you won't know you are making the mistake, and won't think to ask about it. "Usually, a good immigration attorney should know the right questions to ask," Greg Siskind of Siskind Susser stresses. But knowledge is power, and if you want to have any control of your destiny, it's wise to know the basics.

A good immigration attorney is worth his or her weight in gold. This is underscored by the frightening stories we hear on a regular basis, about those who are not experienced.

One woman came to us to ask about when she might be getting her green card, as she missed her family, and had been unable to see them for three years due to the delay in getting her actual card. We asked why she hadn't gotten an Advance Parole. She didn't have the foggiest clue of what we were talking about. This woman had been on a valid F-1 student visa when she married her US citizen husband. She had never been out of status and there were no complications in her case. When her immigration attorney told her not to leave the country before receiving her green card, he simply failed to inform her that she could have filed for Advance Parole, which is a travel permission that can often be obtained within 30-90 days.

Looking for an Immigration Attorney: Learn From Other People's Mistakes

Another incident involved a young married couple applying for student visas. In order to obtain a student visa, a person needs to prove to the USCIS (formerly INS) that they do not intend to immigrate, i.e. move here permanently. The USCIS wants to know that the individual has no such intention. To prove this, the aspiring student is asked to prove family ties and stability at home, in addition to having the financial means to support him or herself during the entire duration of their stay in the states.

Well, this couple mentioned to us in passing that their immigration attorney suggested they might want to live in the US permanently at a later date, applying for a green card based on extraordinary ability. To prepare for this goal, she advised them point blank to go ahead - while still in their home country - and gather some 60 letters of recommendation from teachers, employers and outstanding members of the community.

This was before they had even signed the papers for their student visas. Did she tell them to post date the letters, I asked? (I don't condone trying to trick the system, which is what post dating would attempt to do; I was just baffled.) By later presenting the USCIS with these 60 letters that were dated prior to applying for their student visas, these two would virtually be providing the USCIS with absolute proof that they had every intention of immigrating to the USA before they even became students. The immigration attorney had not only failed to advise them about the laws, but had even set them up to unwittingly break those laws and then get caught.
In another incident, a woman was married to an American citizen and the marriage fell apart before she received her green card. She had already established a life here and wanted to remain, but the only way for her to do so was through an H-1B working visa. While still in the US, she proceeded to find a job, hire an immigration attorney and apply for the visa. Now, although she was not illegal, she was no longer in a status that allowed her to apply for the visa from within the US. Had her attorney explained this, she would gladly have returned home to wait. Unfortunately, he did not, and she was denied precisely on those grounds, rendering $4,000 down the drain, not to mention the upsetting consequences of becoming an illegal alien.

In all of these cases, had the applicants been well informed, they would have been in a better position to interview for a savvy immigration attorney and also would have been more likely to catch any errors or omissions.

There are two ways to protect yourself:

1) Stay well informed and up-to-date by keeping up with the best available information on the Web.

2) When seeking an immigration attorney, make sure the one you hire is damn good.

Easier said than done you say? Well, we can't make any guarantees, but here are some guidelines for becoming a savvy shopper and greatly reducing your chances of unnecessary problems.

Looking for an Immigration Attorney: Finding Information

The Web is a place where anyone can be published. Fancy software can make a site look impressive while providing no other certainty that the information on it is correct. Of course, this is true for all subjects, but it can be a serious matter when it comes to issues affecting immigrants.
Pay attention to how often a site updates. Look for those that update daily or weekly and which provide or link to the most up-to-date USCIS processing times, waiting times and visa bulletins.

Find out who hosts the site, what their credentials are and what sources they use. Be wary of those who make wild promises and sound too good to be true. There are no magic fixes when it comes to being legally in the U.S. Under various circumstances, even marriage to a US citizen may not guarantee anything. Wild promises indicate a certain lack of responsibility and may even hint at fraud.

Once you've educated yourself in the basic legal ins and outs, and hopefully not before then, it's time to choose an immigration attorney, there are many things that you can use as an indicator.

"Help! Where and How Do I Find a Good Immigration Attorney?!"

Most cases can be handled from afar, says Greg Siskind.

"Only cases where an [USCIS (formerly INS) or court] appearance is necessary, really require a local immigration attorney," he points out. "Although travel expenses are usually not that high for most cases," the Tennessee attorney maintains, "we can either hand pick local counsel, or work in association with an attorney located in your area."
Located in Los Angeles, California, The Law Offices of Carl Shusterman also take many long-distance cases, says Shusterman, and he is very familiar with top immigration attorneys around the country that he can recommend.

Of course, taking a look at where the attorney went to law school, what associations he/she belongs to and other credentials is all important, says Siskind.

He stresses that first and foremost, an immigration attorney should be a member of the American Immigration Attorneys Association (AILA). "This shows the commitment of the attorney to this area of practice," he says. Also, "AILA provides an information Net forum containing many posts where immigration attorneys can discuss all kinds of difficult cases and ever-changing procedures. There is a daily library and annual seminars as well.

"Very true," says Shusterman, just don't let that be your only indicator. "AILA is not that selective," he explains. "Membership is acquired through payment of a fee, and they don't monitor how well the immigration attorney does his or her job. Use this as a mandatory prerequisite, but not the sole criteria."

Another great indicator can be a Web site, says Siskind. While some of the most outstanding immigration attorneys do not have a Web site, having one that provides good, consistent and accurate information can be a solid testament to how well-informed that attorney is. "If they don't have a Web site," he says, "figure out what the immigration attorney does do to stay in touch. Do they have a newsletter for clients? Do they initiate and answer e-mails quickly and readily?" And you can ask for a firm answer on how often they meet with clients.

If the immigration attorney does have back issues of a newsletter, Shusterman suggests that you do a little historical research to see how accurate some of their legal predictions were in terms of changing USCIS (formerly INS) policies and case outcomes.

This is a fluid and ever-changing sector, says Siskind. "Make sure the attorney you hire has several years of experience in immigration law and only immigration law. There is virtually no way that an immigration attorney can keep up with this area of law while practicing in other areas at the same time.

"You don't want to be someone's Guinea Pig," says Shusterman. If they are right out of law school, they may be inexpensive, but the risks are far greater unless you have an extremely simple case. One wrong answer on a form can lead to months of backlog and red tape. "It can be deceptively easy to 'just fill out a form,'" he warns.

Attorneys.com provides a listing of the Martindale- Hubbell ratings on attorneys, says Shusterman. Martindale-Hubbell is considered the single most reliable source for information on attorneys and can help you select one to meet your needs.

Find an Immigration Attorney by His Area of Specialization
Furthermore, in Texas, Florida and California, attorneys are classified by their area of specialization. While legal professionals in other states specialize without the benefit of this system, this official specification provides yet another means for doing a background check on your immigration attorney if he or she is in one of these states. According to Shusterman, the certification requires a listing of courses taken by the attorney, the passing of an exam, and a collection of professional recommendations.
Siskind points out that many immigration attorneys further specialize in particular areas within immigration law. If you have an amnesty case, search for an immigration attorney that specializes in that. In this kind of very specific specialization, having several specialties is fine, but you don't want to have an immigration attorney represent you on a deportation case, for example, unless he or she has experience in that area.

(So how does an attorney learn if they can never take a first case?" you ask? Well, they can work on a case with a senior attorney until they know the ropes well enough to work their own cases, but that shouldn't be your concern.)
In addition, it can be helpful to know that the immigration attorney in question has had extensive dealings with the USCIS, either as a previous employee or in other significant capacities.

Another good way to monitor an immigration attorney's professionalism is through reviewing the press they have received and taking note of how often those immigration attorneys are used as sources by major media, Siskind points out. Part of what information on the web has done, is to make both journalists and clients much more knowledgeable. A good immigration attorney should greet this pressure with relative ease and be able to rise to the occasion. "Interview your immigration attorney!" says Siskind. The Internet has made clients much more savvy and it's getting harder for lousy immigration attorneys to pull the wool over their eyes. If you are seeking an immigration attorney, you too should be one of those savvy interviewers.

Shusterman points out that being put on the spot for an immediate answer, i.e. by reporters on the phone, or in professional live chats, is definitely a good indicator of being on the ball. "Journalists don't keep calling you if you aren't providing legally accurate information," he points out. Look too at which publications are quoting the immigration attorney. How well known and prestigious are those publications? Do you trust them to identify top sources?

The Internet Changes Client/Immigration Attorney Dealings

The availability of information on the web will inevitably, to some extent, change the way things have been done. "You will start to see the unbundling of legal services," says Siskind, where clients fill out forms and the law firm checks them over, handles complications and oversees the case. This will enable those without financial means to reap the benefits of having an immigration attorney.

Another thing we will start to see more of is client-specific, password protected Web sites, says Siskind, who may implement this at some point. In other words, immigration attorneys will eventually set up pages where their clients can look at their own files right on line and perhaps view personal messages from their attorneys.

One firm, Frageman, already does this, says Shusterman. But it's a very large corporate firm that takes few if any individual cases and is not publicized for the general public. The firm is also responsible for some of the top immigration law books available to those practicing law.

These changes are a good indication of the trends toward a more client-friendly environment when it comes to immigration law. It used to be nearly impossible to find legal information unless you went to a law library, or subscribed to a prohibitively expensive online database for attorneys. Now, however, freedom of legal information on the Net means that you can be an educated consumer, and a cunning interviewer of your prospective immigration attorney. This may even be a pretty good situation for immigration attorneys, who, instead of spending time taking hundreds of phone calls about general laws or procedures, can spend most of their time learning about the ever-changing laws and procedures, and directly handling your case instead."

Is There A Website That Can Allow Me To Blast An Attorney For Sloppy Representation??
I Had A Horrible Experience With An Attorney, Is There A Way, Legally, I Can Blast This Attorney Without Getting Into Legal Trouble. It'S My Way Of Warning Others Not To Hire This Individual. Or Do I Chalk It Up To Experience And Move On?

Your specific state bar association maintains standards of ethics & competency for licensed lawyers; and, these state standards reflect the national standards adopted by the national bar association!

The state bar association's website will inform you how to file a complaint & it's generally as simple as writing a letter, stating your concerns & providing copies of any supporting evidence.

For caution's sake, mail this letter of complaint with copies of the supporting documents via the USPS certified mail with return receipt requested. This method is the ONLY technique to prove that delivery was made!

Your concerns will then be investigated by an committee empowered by the state's Supreme Court. Their decision will be provided to you in writing in a somewhat timely manner.

Oftentimes, fees can be ordered to be returned, or the attorney may be fined or suspended or their license to practice law and earn an income in this occupation can be suspended for a specific time period or permanently.

When one is seeking an attorney, it is practical to research the attorney by referring the most current edition of the State Bar Directory, which lists all attorneys who are or have been sanctioned; acting as an savvy consumer BEFORE retaining an attorney saves much $$$$, frustration and time, I have learned.

Word of mouth is the best as well as the worst advertising.

Without "blasting," simply put together a timetable of horrible events or inaction you've experienced [if only as preparation for drafting your letter of complaint to the state bar] with Attorney X.

I have several matters pending here in Michigan as many members of this small, remote community are fed up with the lack of standards demonstrated by the local lawyers & the personal consequences paid by the client, in matters both criminal and civil!